Op-Ed: What Asian immigrants, seeking the American dream, found in Southern California suburbs in the 1980s and the 1990s
The Southern California suburb was a place where life could be simple — life and opportunity. The Asian community of South Los Angeles found its sanctuary. It built its own schools, its own churches, its own civic institutions. Some called the suburbs the American Dream. So much of the community’s success in the 1980s and 1990s came from the fact that it built its own institutions. And most of those institutions gave them their first foothold in the American dream.
Los Angeles Times
As the Asian community of South Los Angeles was getting its feet under it in the 1980s, one of the largest and oldest Asian populations was in the San Gabriel Valley.
The Asian population of the San Gabriel Valley, like the Asian population of the rest of Los Angeles County, was increasing by around 2%, which was the fastest rate in the region. It was the second fastest in the state. By the late ’80s, with the booming economy, the Asian population of the San Gabriel Valley was growing by 3%. It wasn’t large: 10,000. This was not so much a community of immigrants. This was a city-dwelling community of people who had come from Korea or Hong Kong, or from Singapore or Indonesia.
On the surface, the San Gabriel Valley was like any other suburb, except for the fact that it had one of the fastest growing Asian populations. But, there was one other factor that made it a kind of paradise for the Asian community. It was a place where you could do business. The Asian community of San Gabriel Valley, like the Asian population of the rest of Los Angeles County, was increasing by around 2%, which was the fastest rate in the region. It was the second fastest in the state.
By the late ’80s, with the booming economy, the Asian population of San
